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Community Difference Maker

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Katie Warthen

Nominated by: Phyllis Kelly

At 93, Katie Warthen (pictured right) still smiles as she reminisces about her time spent rebuilding the Emmitsburg Library. Originally from Kentucky, Katie moved to Emmitsburg after high school to help her sister care for her children. In 1952, not long after her move, she met her late husband, John (Bud) Warthen, who worked at the American Store, now known as the Ott House. Katie passed the store daily on her way to the shoe factory where she worked. The couple eventually married and had six children.

During this time, Katie also began volunteering at the Emmitsburg Library. She fondly remembers Susan Chatlos, the wife of a local pastor, taking a deep interest in the library and forming a board of directors. According to the Emmitsburg Dispatch1, the library, established in 1906, is the oldest in Frederick County. However, after the Great Depression, the library struggled due to waning interest. This was when Katie stepped in to volunteer. At that time, the library occupied a small room and was open just two hours a week.

With Katie’s dedication, the library extended their hours of operation. Katie would open the library from 10:00 a.m. to noon, go home and start making dinner, then go back to the library from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., then come home and serve dinner, returning back to the library from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. On Saturday, she would be at the library from 10:00 a.m.-noon. She did this a few days each week, all while taking care of her children. Katie eventually went from a volunteer to becoming an official Frederick County Public Library employee in 1962.

Working closely with the board of directors, Katie helped develop programs that brought more visitors to the library. She recalls organizing a variety of events, including art exhibits, fashion shows, tea parties, tree plantings, and guest speaker presentations.

“We did anything connected to a book,” she recalled. She also established a reading program for children, which ended with a celebration eating watermelon at the park. Her daughter, Karen Adelsberger, remembers pulling their red wagon filled with watermelons to the park for the festivities. Additionally, Katie initiated the popular Celtic music concerts, a tradition that continues to this day, still sponsored by Frederick County Public Libraries. All of these efforts were aimed at increasing library circulation, which the county closely monitored.

Katie also became a fierce advocate for the Emmitsburg Library when the county considered closing it and moving operations to Thurmont. Community members, with Katie at the forefront, asked pointed questions at meetings, such as, “How much money will you save by moving the library?” Katie is quick to credit the board of directors for its support during this period. “I had a good board of about eight women who were very influential in the community. They knew how to speak up and spread the word,” she recalled.

Over her 37½ years with the library, Katie witnessed significant changes in technology, transitioning from paper records to electronic systems. She adapted to each change, learning the new systems as they evolved.

Katie’s passion for preserving local history didn’t stop at the library. She also founded the Emmitsburg Historical Society, which she says was a natural extension of her work. She even added a display case in the library to showcase artifacts from Emmitsburg’s past.

We want to thank Katie for her dedication to the community, which has allowed Emmitsburg to continue to have a library all these years.

If you know someone who has made a difference in our community, please feel free to nominate them by emailing news@thecatoctinbanner.com.
1B. Weeks. History of the Emmitsburg Library, The Emmitsburg Chronicles. November 17, 2006. https://www.emmitsburg.net/

Katie Warthen in a room that previously served as the Emmitsburg Library, before Warthen’s efforts helped it grow to what it is today.

Veteran Spotlight

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Sergeant Jim Adelsberger

Emmitsburg’s Last Pearl Harbor Survivor

by Richard D. L. Fulton

On February 24, 2009, Emmitsburg lost its last Pearl Harbor survivor, James (“Jim”) O. Adelsberger, at age 87, when he passed away at St. Catherine’s Nursing Center.

In November 2004, the reporter, who was then the news editor for the The Emmitsburg Disatch, met with Adelsberger at his West Main Street home, where he recounted his experiences on that fateful day of December 7, 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the military installation at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Adelsberger was born on May 24, 1921, in Baltimore, son of the late Dwen and Adele Adelsberger, and James was married to the late-Loretta C. (Sanders) Adelsberger.

Upon graduation from the Emmitsburg High School, Adelsberger, at age 24, decided to enlist, at which time he became a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, the unit in which he was serving at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the unit with whom he remained for five years.

Adelsberger had said during the 2004 interview, that he and three of his friends, Joseph Boyle, Jack Stoner, and Bud Shearer (all of whom enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the same time), upon enlisting, requested to serve in Hawaii, which the Army was then promoting as a “paradise.”

They were then assigned to “guard-duty” at Hickam Field when, subsequently, “Paradise” quickly became Hell on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese targeted Hickam Field as part of the overall assault in order to suppress any effort by the Army Air Corps to get their planes into the air to defend against the Japanese attack.

The attack commenced around 7:55 a.m., when Japanese Commander Mitsua Fuchida uttered the command, “Tora, tora, tora!”—which doesn’t mean “Attack, attack, attack.” It is Japanese for “Tiger, tiger, tiger” (code for executing a lightning attack).

“We heard the planes coming in and thought they were ours (an incoming flight of B-17s was anticipated that morning at Hickam Field),” Adelsberger stated during the 2004 interview. 

In fact, the B-17s were arriving and found themselves mixed in with the attacking Japanese aircraft.  Unfortunately, said Adelsberger, the B-17s were unarmed to lighten their loads. 

“Some of them (the B-17s) were being hit. Some of them were being shot down. We didn’t know what was going on. Some of them were shot up pretty bad,” Adelsberger said.

As the intensity of the attack increased, he stated during the 2004 interview, “They just kept coming and coming, and we couldn’t figure out where they were all coming from,” adding that, none of the men could figure out why they were being attacked. “We didn’t know what it was for… I could see all of the attack. I could see ships half-sunk and buildings burned down after the attack.”

When the attack subsided about two hours later, Adelsberger said, during the 2004 interview, “There were a lot of fellows lying around (on the ground). They were lying everywhere. The field hospital was doing a real business that day.”

Hickam Field suffered extensive damage and aircraft losses, with 189 people killed (including civilians) and 303 wounded. In total, the Japanese assault left 2,388 military personnel dead, along with 1,178 wounded. Among the dead were 68 civilians. And the attack propelled the United States into World War II.

Sergeant Adelsberger was discharged from the military on October 16, 1945, and, subsequently, worked for 35 years at the United States Post Office in Emmitsburg.

On December 2, 2004, the Emmitsburg Board of Commissioners officially recognized Adelsberger as the “town’s last surviving citizen and Veteran of Pearl Harbor,” and issued a proclamation that declared December 7, 2004, as “James Adelsberger Day.”

Adelsberger was a member of the Emmitsburg Memorial VFW, Post 6658, the American Legion Francis X. Elder Post 121, and a lifelong communicant of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Photograph of the attack on Pearl Harbor, taken by a Japanese fighter pilot.

James Adelsberger poses with his Pearl Harbor “Mementos,” including spent Japanese fighter cartridges and his burnt wallet and dog tags, which he recovered from his barracks after it had been bombed.

“On The Wild Side” Columnist Says Goodbye

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blair garrett

“On The Wild Side” provided a fun and exciting glimpse into what nature had to offer. Getting back to our roots in nature was a major focus for Christine Maccabee, Catoctin Banner columnist, as she waves farewell to writing for the Banner and moves on to other exciting ventures.

Maccabee’s final “On The Wild Side” column detailed the importance of seed-saving, a centuries-old tradition for re-planting crops, flowers, and just about anything else that grows out of the ground. She has routinely developed stories on her experiences with gardening and environmental health during her time with the Banner.

Maccabee is a creative soul who has written for the Banner for years, often exploring and explaining the value of nature and environmental crises surrounding our earth.

She got her start in writing many years ago and, to date, has covered anything from gardening tips, to humans’ impact on water, to climate change and its effects on our world.

“I was journaling throughout college,” Maccabee said. “I was always sort of a poetic person, but in my 20s was when I really got fired up and started writing a lot of nature songs.”

Maccabee is an avid songwriter and poet, which has contributed greatly to her writing over the years. Her articles were often thoughtful and informative and written with a down-to-earth tone, making them easily relatable to anyone with even the slightest interest in the outdoors.

She got her start in published long-form writing with a former local newspaper, and her ideas have flourished from there. 

“I started off with the Emmitsburg Dispatch, writing about my goats,” Maccabee said. She talked about her experiences milking them, their attitudes, and all of the joys goats brought her.

“I’ve been very thankful that the Banner took me on after Bo Cadle at the Dispatch. I segued from goats to gardens.”

Though she no longer has goats, her garden has taken off since her days of writing for the Dispatch. Annually, Maccabee grows peas, garlic, potatoes, various berries, and much, much more. Her repertoire of knowledge for the plant life on her 11.5-acre property has grown tremendously over the years.

“I can identify every single wild plant here, and I’ve been working on that skill since my 20s,” she said.

From gardening to music, Maccabee has always filtered her life through her various creative outlets. She’s made CDs of her songs, countless poems, flora press artwork, and she wants to continue expanding her works to a greater audience.

With so many different focuses throughout her life, Maccabee’s gardening has been a steady source of happiness, personal growth, and inspiration for her.

“Your life is like a book,” she said. “You have chapters, and I’ve done a lot of things in 15-year chapters in my life. But gardening has been a constant throughout that.”

If her music career takes off, or her poems strike a chord with the new generation, you’ll likely still find Maccabee plugging away in her garden or awaiting the blooming plants of the coming seasons. Her deep love of nature will always keep her “on the wild side.”

You can find archives of Maccabee’s “On The Wild Side” articles online at www.thecatoctinbanner.com.

Christine MacCabee sits in her meditation section among her various species of plants.